OpenUP/OpenUP_SP/library/base_concepts/guidances/concepts/plugin.xmi

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<com.ibm.uma:ContentDescription xmi:version="2.0" xmlns:xmi="http://www.omg.org/XMI" xmlns:com.ibm.uma="http://www.ibm.com/uma/1.0.2/uma.ecore" xmi:id="_0LCr8BUFEdqrUt4zetC1gg" name="method_plugin,_0KeEMBUFEdqrUt4zetC1gg" guid="_0LCr8BUFEdqrUt4zetC1gg" changeDate="2005-09-07T02:03:28.352-0700">
  <mainDescription>&lt;p&gt;
    A Method Plugin is a Method Element that represents a physical container for Method Packages.&amp;nbsp; It defines a
    granularity level for the modularization and organization of method content and processes.&amp;nbsp; A Method Plugin can
    extend many other Method Plugins and it can be extended by many Method Plugins.&amp;nbsp; It can also be used stand-alone,
    i.e. with no Extension relationship to other plug-ins.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
    Method Plugin conceptually represents a unit for configuration, modularization, extension, packaging, and deployment of
    method content and processes.&amp;nbsp; A Process Engineer must design his Plugins and allocate his content to these
    Plugins with requirements for extensibility, modularity, reuse, and maintainability in mind.&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
    Another use of Plugins is that they allow factoring out context or technology specific content into separate Method
    Plugins.For example, his factoring allows one to alternatively choose one Method Plugin over another depending on the
    technology used for the project (e.g. J2EE vs. .NET)
&lt;/p&gt;</mainDescription>
</com.ibm.uma:ContentDescription>